MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Sullyman on June 29, 2011, 07:47:00 PM
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Hi - I am a long term camper who has been investigating a camper trailer over the past 12 months and whilst I suspect will make a purchase (an ever growing family helps makes the decision easier!) I have heard a few comments from friends that they are much cooler in their camper than they were in their tent.
Now I know this answer depends on what time of year you go camping, but relatively speaking, have any tent to camper converts noticed a significant temperature drop? I understand that more creature comforts can be enjoyed by using a camper eg extra blankets, doona etc but would be interested in peoples experiences.
Sully.
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Last yr while in the gibson Desert and other places that where frosty morns, we where warm enough as we had blankets under the bed to stop the cold air getting in from underneath,
I use the fleecy blankets and they seem to be warm
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Gday Sully,
We haven't noticed any real temp chance between tent / CT. Whether that is due to being under canvas or to different bedding used to sleeping in the tent, I'm not sure. I find the CT cooler in summer to sleep in than the tent. :cheers:
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I would say yes, camper tents are usually colder than tents. We have come from a touring tent background to a camper trailer. A lot of it comes down to the greater internal space in a camper. For us this is offset by the extra comforts as you say. We sleep with two doonas in winter and are toasty warm.
We're also using the camper a lot more in the colder months than we would have with the tent due to the extra comfort.
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We found it warmer going from a tent to a ct. But even summer nights in Tassie get cold. But nothing good blankets and a sherbert before bed wont fix :cheers:
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i find that my trailer is heaps warmer than the tent .we use to sleep on a air maters now a proper bed the air above you in the camper is smaller .so think it warms up faster , the coldest we have slept in the camper was -3 and idid not feel likeit till the ice stated to melt on us . so i belive trailer is warmer
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we went from a tent to a jayco and yes it was colder as under the bed there is the cold air
but now we are in a caravan and it's nice and toasty
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Really cold when you forget the doona ;D ;D
GG
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Maybe you could put a security cable on the doona Garrick, wouldn't leave it behind then. ;D ;D :cheers:
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Maybe you could put a security cable on the doona Garrick, wouldn't leave it behind then. ;D ;D :cheers:
Between me and Bullfrog we could put you onto the right bloke. ;D
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Really cold when you forget the doona ;D ;D
GG
Im still convinced you did that on purpose you filthy animal ;D but then again anything for a bit of body on body action 8)
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Sounds the doona isn't the only thing in need of cable ;D :cheers:
sorry for running off the track Sully :cheers:
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I've found it colder.. As hookedon4wdriving says, I think it is because of the larger internal space
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have not had it out in to cold weather, down to 5 degc, and we find ours is hell warm. We close it up at night and find it nice and toasty. One thing i have noticed, in summer, it is MUCH cooler then a tent.
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We use old style woolen blanket over the mattress and another over the sleeping bags then the doona, we also have an electric blanket in case it gets really nippy :cup:
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Went camping in -7 degrees on the Queens Birthday weekend.....flippin cold in anything I'd imagine, call me soft, but the electric blanket was my saviour. I added it that weekend and resolved any problems with freezing my n.....s off!
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Went camping in -7 degrees on the Queens Birthday weekend.....flippin cold in anything I'd imagine, call me soft, but the electric blanket was my saviour. I added it that weekend and resolved any problems with freezing my n.....s off!
Hi Mate, what type of electric blanket are you using? 12 volt or 240volt through inverter
If 12 volt what brand and where did you get it from ?
:cheers:
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Hi Mate, what type of electric blanket are you using? 12 volt or 240volt through inverter
If 12 volt what brand and where did you get it from ?
:cheers:
When its minus 7, you grab the nearest one....from coles, and was even on special, so just a 240V one. I have a 300W inverter and have been told that it will run the blanket because of their low power draw. I have not tried it on the inverter yet. But by jingoes it was warm on 240 8)
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I have a hard alloy top camper that flipps over to become the bed.
I was worried about it being cold so when building the bed base I used pollypropylene roofing insulation bats (about 45mm thick with foil layer R2.5) under the 10mm marine ply bed base. We get verry little cold transfer through that to the materess.
But if you touch any of the bare alluminum parts they are really cold and do transfer a lot of heat away. So I covered the area around the bed and all the camper floor and sides with carpet.
The other nice thing in verry cold desert locations is that we are about a metre up off the ground so I think it helps stay up out of the frost zone.
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Hi, I have use both a swag and camper at Spring Gully Stays at the gold coast and I found the swag a lot warmer to sleep in than the camper (but that could have to do with the amount of bourbons empted before hand). But in the camper you can always use more doonas.
Rod
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When its minus 7, you grab the nearest one....from coles, and was even on special, so just a 240V one. I have a 300W inverter and have been told that it will run the blanket because of their low power draw. I have not tried it on the inverter yet. But by jingoes it was warm on 240 8)
We just have a cheap one from Big W and run it off of the inverter, I have tested it out and we can get approx 10hrs continuous use with a Queen size blanket on setting #1.
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We just have a cheap one from Big W and run it off of the inverter, I have tested it out and we can get approx 10hrs continuous use with a Queen size blanket on setting #1.
Hi Bubba,
What is the size of your battery/ies (Ahs), and what other power items are used.??
Bob
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Don't let Captain reply on this topic. :-)
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I would say yes, camper tents are usually colder than tents. We have come from a touring tent background to a camper trailer. A lot of it comes down to the greater internal space in a camper. For us this is offset by the extra comforts as you say. We sleep with two doonas in winter and are toasty warm.
This is our experience as well.
With the old canvas touring tent, we'd zip it up reasonably tight, and it was really good at keeping the heat in. The camper, with it's bigger internal volume seems to lose the heat as soon as the sun goes down.
That said, I wouldn't have it any other way. We've counteracted this by not trying to keep the tent warm - leaving the window near the bed open to get fresh air through and enjoying being able to look out through the night from the comfort of the blankets. ;D
Of course, my definition of "cold" might be slightly different to that of people living down the bottom end of this country...
Thanks!
Matto :)
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We've been cold, but that's because it was cold. When I mentioned that we camped at the snow people ask was it cold? We were at the snow idiot, of course it was cold.
I have silk liners for all our sleeping bags and we've needed them on a few occasions. I think these add about 5-10 degrees to the efficacy of your bag. Stopping air movement under the bed is a good plan if you can.
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Camped in the snow in a hike tent and it is quite warm. (low volume) with the larger volume of air in the camper it is cooler. If you can divide your camper up (divider for the bed from the main tent) then your bedroom will be warmer.
You have tha capacity to take more bedding so why not use that. Even sitting in camp chairs we use a nanna blanket to help keep us warm.
I have also added some high density foam (blue sleeping mat type stuff) under the bed. It was 2 m wide so I got 1.7m off the roll from clarkes.
Airbeds are no good as the air will transfer the coldness of the ground to you. This kids have a foam sleeping mat on their stretchers to keep them warmer.
Regards
Crisp Image
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I have camped in tent swags and camper in winter and I think it really depends on a number of factors such as :- ground temperature, wind , how open the location is, the amount of warm gear you have on, and the amount of "special medicine" you have consumed.
When I go fishing (calling it fishing may be a stretch some nights), I normally take my sway and we camp on a open island so it does get quite cool for Brisbane standards. Normally to sleep I just take of my jacket and boots and crawl into my swag like that, and am plenty warm. But when in the camper my wife I use a doona that keeps us warm but also my wife sets limits....like i'm not allowed to wear dirty smelly clothes to bed. The other thing is when fishing we usually consume a fair amount of green death (green ginger wine) and as the night progresses we mix it with scotch....my wife sets limits about that too when I camp with her for some reason she is not a lover of our fishing medicine.
So I think it really depends on your set up
Cheers
Pete
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I heard a few people liked the Origo Heatpal 5100 so I ordered one today from here:
http://caravansplus.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=6862
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The coldest I have experienced was -5 on the Queens birthday weekend a couple of years back when I took a group of scouts for a three day hike at Glen Elgen, I found that if I did not move off the warm spot on the bed I was fine and when my face was exposed to the air it woke me, however my mate who ignored advice on how to stay warm on the stretcher, did not weather it very well at all and I still remind him at appropriate moments, However it would have been a lot more comfortable if Margaret had have been with me as body heat makes a massive difference,Margaret and I have done a few nights when we have had a frost and we wear beenies and socks and open up the old sleeping bag to keep warm, and it would have to get a lot lot lot colder before I would ever consider cuddling up to a bloke to warm up. :cheers:
Grizzly
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We have a Quantum Super Camper from AORC (and ours is older than Captain's :-*). We optioned the diesel heater and we don't get cold at all! :cheers:
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We have a Quantum Super Camper from AORC (and ours is older than Captain's :-*). We optioned the diesel heater and we don't get cold at all! :cheers:
That is why Captain isn't allowed to post in this topic. :-)
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A Can of baked beans for all and everything is toasty warm... ;D ;D ;D :cup: :angel:
Never really thought about which is cooler but we fitted a heater to the KK after camping in the snow last year.... :cheers:
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Love the sweet chilli baked beans and green ginger wine.......
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Nothing wrong with a bit of heat in the CT . The naked flame old or new really works & a few :cheers:
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Hi Sully, we were originally tent campers and a few year back we invested in a CT. We have extended our camping throughout the whole year now including winter. We have camped in heavy frost conditions and even in sleet. We have a 12v electric blanket that we use sometimes to heat the bed up before we go to sleep, the kids sometimes use hot water bottles. We have always been warm. You can buy heater for camper trailers although I believe they cost a bit. Chewy
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How many are in the CT will have an effect too. Normally there are 5 of us, so that may cancel out any difference between tent / CT for us.
Slipus...Good to here you partake of Dr Greens medicne, you'll fit in well down here chasing Bass Pete :cheers:
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The camper is colder since the kids came along........
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The camper is colder since the kids came along........
Time to update your sig too :)
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Yeah I know it's been a week!
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The Rockwall campervan we checked out in Taree yesterday has built in electric blankets!!
Robyn.
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I think coldness has alot to do with how much alcohol you've consumed, if you have kids or not, and where you are camping. If you are finding it too cold, leave the kids with Grandma, buy a few extra brewski's, and plan to camp in North Qld.
I have always found that those micro-fibre blankets are just that bit warmer than most, one over and one under can make a big difference. Put some flanno sheets on the bed and take an extra blanket or two. If you are still cold, plan to do some exercise before bed and you should be fine.
Kit_e
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I think coldness has alot to do with how much alcohol you've consumed, if you have kids or not, and where you are camping. If you are finding it too cold, leave the kids with Grandma, buy a few extra brewski's, and plan to camp in North Qld.
Kit_e
Dam I like your attitude Kit_e
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.... and plan to camp in North Qld.
There's your answer right there...! Coldest we have ever camped in is 5 degrees!
The only minus signs up here are on my bank statements...
Give the kids plenty of baked beans and the tent stays warm all night... ;D
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We have a 12v electric blanket that we use sometimes to heat the bed up before we go to sleep,
Where abouts did you purchase the blanket from?
Also for those with kids, do they sleep on portable beds with a mattress or air beds? Because we are toasty on the bed but the kids got a little cold the other weekend?
Cheers,
Steve
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Well, just had our 1st weekend away with our new camper trailer - nice & toasty in bed (queen size inner spring mattress) mainly thanks to a thick woollen underlay - was not cheap, although did get it at a big discount when on special, but well worth it & extremely comfortable
http://www.minijumbuk.com.au/products/underlays/luxus-underlay
Also for those with kids, do they sleep on portable beds with a mattress or air beds? Because we are toasty on the bed but the kids got a little cold the other weekend?
Our kids slept in -2 deg C rated sleeping bags on Oztent padded camp stretchers topped with Kathmandu self inflating air mattress. If the kids are still complaining it's cold, put them in thermals under the pj's
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Well, just had our 1st weekend away with our new camper trailer - nice & toasty in bed (queen size inner spring mattress) mainly thanks to a thick woollen underlay - was not cheap, although did get it at a big discount when on special, but well worth it & extremely comfortable
http://www.minijumbuk.com.au/products/underlays/luxus-underlay
holy crap.. not cheap is right.. that discount would have to be about 70% before i'd be happy to pay for it..
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holy crap.. not cheap is right.. that discount would have to be about 70% before i'd be happy to pay for it..
Think it was about 50%. Was going to go a cheaper one but it was only 500gsm whereas the one I got was 1000gsm
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... topped with Kathmandu self inflating air mattress.
This.
Self-inflating mattresses are superb for insulating you from the cold. The foam does an excellent job. That's where I would start.
Good luck!
Matto :)
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I found a 4meter x 3 meter picnic rug at super cheap, had it cut in half and sewn up.fits the PVC floor perfectly and is good for the 1yr old crawler.The other half went under the matress and the plastic back keeps the cold air out.
Pretty cold last weekend and used a little 6 fin oil heater as well did a good job.
P